''No! It''s not murder. This is just a game… Or is it?'' A paranoid idea wormed into his head.


    ''Is the scroll lying? Am I really in an illusion?''


    The soldiers'' rising chests and swiveling heads pointed to the opposite.


    ''The Scroll has no reason to lie to me. In no way killing soldiers somewhere on the planet will help a magical scroll. It''s not like they are blocking the scroll from building a factory to create more baby scrolls.'' With a sarcastic smile, Leon tried to think of any angle the scroll benefits from murder but couldn''t come up with any.


    He eyed the exit again, thinking of asking Ethrex, the magical scroll, to show some proof that he was in an illusion before tossing that idea.


    ''It doesn''t matter. I can''t even verify if the proof is legitimate even if the scroll shows it to me.'' He thought feeling the weight of the rifles on his chest.


    Everything felt real in the fort, even in the dark void where he met the scroll.


    ''It''s a game! It''s a game.'' He repeated the same sentence for the nth time as he observed the soldiers.


    Four sharp 7-inch needles lay quietly on the ground behind them, ready to take their life.


    A soldier murmured something causing another to laugh and jostle him.


    Taking deep breaths Leon suppressed every errant thought and emotion as he focused on eliminating the soldiers below.


    As he thought about the best ways to do it silently and quickly. An errant but important thought hit him.


    ''What I am doing? If this is a game, just killing soldiers I face is sub-optimal. I need a layout of this fort or at least make sure my kills don''t alert the others for a long time so that the soldiers won''t flee or bunker down.'' The line of thought appealed to Loen as he didn''t know how the soldiers would react after finding that someone was killing them.


    ''I think my stealth approach, ''completed a complimentary path'' because no one saw me as I escaped. So, I have to kill everyone if I have to complete another path.'' Sadly, he doesn''t have spells to knock people out as it could also be a complimentary path.


    Even as part of his mind screamed he was just running away from getting things done, Leon retreated from the entrance.


    He zipped across the fort searching for other entrances.


    After he got an idea about the outer corridors of the fort, he came across a dining room.


    A dozen soldiers were eating in the closed room, with some more serving the food.


    Leon''s gamer sense pinged like crazy at the chance of eliminating so many soldiers at the same time.


    Two soldiers, decked in full military attire, guarded a door some meters away from the dining room.


    ''A pantry, maybe.''


    Leon took a deep breath.


    ''This is it. I can''t run anymore. I can''t lose this chance.''


    Firming his will and only focusing on the task in front of him, Leon waved his wand.


    Four needles slowly climbed the wall behind the soldiers and stopped, just behind their necks.


    With another exaggerated wave of his wand, the needles swung around and pierced the unguarded throats of the soldiers.


    Two knockback jinxes flared to life, above the soldier''s head and hit their throats, pushing the needles deeper just as they pierced the skin.


    The soldiers weren''t prepared for spells to hit them at point-blank range.


    Leon''s camouflage spell flickered out along with his notice-me-not charm, the consecutive use of so many spells taxed his magic. But the glowing bodies of the dead soldiers made him forget his fatigue.


    The soldier''s bodies turned into colorful lights before disappearing, silently dropping the gear they were wearing.


    ''GOOD! The Scroll didn''t lie, I am in an illusion.''


    Leon levitated the dropped rifles and excitedly slunk back to the dining room''s entrance after quickly casting his stealth combo- camouflage and notice me not.


    With a wave of his wand, he gently deposited four rifles- two his and the other two from his latest kills- beside the entrance of the dining room along with the frag grenades he was carrying.


    Leon made some distance from the dining room, but still kept the door in sight.


    Pins fell off the grenades before a knockback jinx tossed them into the room.


    With another wave of his wand, the four rifles levitated in the air, forming a rectangle.


    Leon''s stealth combo was snapped again.


    Not caring or waiting to see the results, Leon hid behind a beam, still levitating the rifles.


    Unlike DADA spells(jinxes, hexes, curses) and transfiguration, most charms need to be constantly maintained. And Leon can''t maintain many at the same time especially when four featherlight charms were bearing the weight of the rifles- a single rifle weighing 3 kilos(6 pounds) on average. But, it was still better than trying to lift the heavy rifles without the spells.


    Multiple explosions rocked the fort and the silence that followed was filled with gunshots.


    The rifle formation burst into the room and spun around in the air, shooting at every inch of the room. After a couple of seconds of intense firing, they plopped down on the ground, their magazines spent.


    Following a wave of his hand and two soft whispers, the reality failed to perceive Leon again. With notice me not and camouflage spell at full force, he patiently waited for the other soldiers to check on the mayhem.


    And just like he thought, a group of four soldiers hurried towards the dining room, talking into their walky-talkies as they entered the room.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    After a wave of his wand, two pins of the grenades, strapped to the soldiers, fell.


    Not waiting for the resulting explosion Leon zipped away towards the entrance.


    ''I hope the soldiers guarding the entrance didn''t flee.'' He thought ignoring the explosions he left in his wake.


    And they didn''t.


    Two soldiers trained their rifles towards the fort while the other two watched the entrance.


    Pins fell off.


    Leon took shelter as explosions rocked the fort again.


    ''Maybe I should have taken the walky-talky. What language were the soldiers speaking in again?''


    Leon waited near the entrance to see if more soldiers would come to check up on the entrance.


    He waited and waited.


    He didn''t have anything else to do. The only way to exit the fort was through here. You can''t even jump down from the first floor or from the windows as the fort was constructed on the edge of the hill.


    The only way to enter or exit was through the stone arch.


    ''I think that''s a clue that I am in an illusion. No way a fort will constructed without multiple entrances..right?'' He wasn''t an expert in architecture or history so he shrugged and waited.


    ............…


    "Always maintain your connection, over." A heavy and grizzled man talked into his com.


    The moon shined through the window, illuminating the room filled with nervous energy.


    The man hovered above the blueprints of the castle, his eyes darting around and eyebrows furrowed.


    "I still think it is a single enemy, Captain. Maybe he is posing as one of our own and causing this mayhem." A young soldier sitting on the right side of the man spoke.


    "Real life isn''t like one of your spy movies, Liteunant. A single man can''t cause this much damage unless he is a demi-god or can use magic." The captain snorted, breaking the tension in the room.


    "Please, I can do-"


    "I have reached the entrance, sir." The com device on his bench rose.


    "Good, go slow, and steady. Over"


    "The more details we can give the HQ about the enemies the better," the captain muttered, writing off his and his soldiers'' lives.


    ''We are most likely surrounded, but I am at least hurting them before we go down.''


    ...…..


    As Leon patiently waited, he saw someone slowly move towards him.


    ''Only one soldier this time? Then, using the grenades will be wasteful.''


    A knife slowly detached from his waist and started to move towards the soldier, sticking to the roof.


    ''I don''t need stray shots of a last hurrah give me new holes, thank you.'' Leon thought as the knife stealthily reached above the soldier who was 10 meters away.


    It slowly leviated down to the neck level of the soldier, hovering behind his back.


    As the soldier muttered something into his walkie-talkie, Leon made the knife tap the soldier''s neck.


    He whipped his head back before the knife embedded itself into his Adam''s apple.


    Even though the feedback of controlling the knife was very different from physically wielding it, Leon still shivered at what he did.


    As he took deep breaths, the soldier''s corpse disappeared dropping his gear.


    "Just a detailed VR, A detailed VR game," Leon whispered and tried his best to suppress the pangs of feelings his empathy was sending.


    While Leon was an adrenaline junkie- nah- an addict in his last life, it doesn''t mean he was a psychopath who can murder people at the drop of a hat and smile like nothing happened.


    But, he believed the most useful aspect of humans was adapting.


    Life partner dead- you bounce back before a year.


    Government collapsed, mafia gangs roam the street- life goes on.


    Humans adapt, whether it is to the highs or lows of life or to just survive, and some even thrive in situations they never would have imagined.


    Though, it takes time, even trained soldiers need time to adapt to the battlefield where ethics take a back seat. And even more time is needed to adapt to normal life when they go back to their everyday lives.


    Leon believes he can adapt to anything and he isn''t averse to change.


    ''But the question is do I want to become a human who can laugh after killing another guy and what-''


    The walky-talky on the ground blazed to life interrupting his line of thought.


    ''Right! I still have time to set my boundaries and draw lines. Now, let''s win this stupid game.''


    "&^*@$^"


    ''I don''t think that''s a human language.''


    The sound coming off the walkie-talkie was like someone had added tone inflections to the revving of a car engine.


    ''Damn! That''s another clue that says I am in an illusion. I could have heard the soldiers speak if I didn''t maintain so much distance from them.''


    Leon fiddled with the grenades and nylon straps of the soldier''s bag.


    The soldier carried four frags, 2 flashbangs, and 2 smokes, which he looted. They were going to help him set some traps.


    The first year doesn''t know much about traps. So, he just tied the pins of the grenades with the nylon before sticking the grenades to the sides of the wall so that if someone tripped on the thread the pins come off.


    And of course, a notice me not charm along with darkness cast by the broken lamps made sure people didn''t see the rope.


    He waved his wand near the corridor, setting up an ''alarm'' that would let him know if someone reached the entrance.


    ..........


    "Come in, Alpha. Alpha respond." The captain repeated himself for a couple of minutes before tossing the walkie on the table.


    The Lieutenant gazed out of the window and looked down, staring at the yawning darkness that looked eager to swallow him.


    No one can jump from here, it would be nothing but suicide.


    "That''s it. We are retreating. Send the code out for the retreat. We are going to huddle up in this corner of the fort, we will make our last stand here. " The captain spoke, pacing around the room.


    "I don''t think even 10 per cent of our men are left, captain. We only had a dozen patrolling and guarding the fort, the remaining were on break, so were in the dining room." He held back a sigh.


    "We didn''t think anyone could penetrate this far into our territory incognito and attack a useless outpost like ours." The lieutenant shrugged, his shaking hands as he took out his walkie-talkie.


    He followed his captain''s orders, repeating instructions every minute as they both trained their rifles at the door, waiting.


    "No one is responding, captain. I think we are done."


    The door suddenly creaked open before pins fell off the grenades that lay around the room.


    Quickly snapping out of his shock, the lieutenant yelled and started firing into the hallway.


    "Code red, 852w, Code red-"


    An explosion of heat and pain rocked his world and he knew no more.


    .........


    After he set up his traps, Leon started to go deeper into the fort, searching for any rooms that stood out.


    Thus, he encountered a lit room with engine sounds coming out of it in intervals.


    He hid behind a supporting beam on the roof and pushed the door open with a Leviosa spell.


    Just as his mind registered the grenades in the room, he cast the spell again, popping the pins of grenades.


    Gunfire rang out, hitting the walls and floor well in front of his hiding place.


    ''I am smart and wise. Smarter than Dumbles for sure.'' Leon thought as he waited for the explosions, safely tucked away.


    ''I wonder how many more explosions will this fort take… I better use guns from now on. I don''t think I will miss if I aim from the top of their heads.''


    Nodding, he zipped back to the lone soldier he killed with a knife- at the entrance- and took his handgun, a black pistol.


    Leon played around with it, familiarising himself with its weight and safety just like he did for the rifles- with his Leviosa spell, of course, he wasn''t going to be anywhere near the guns or the soldiers.


    He was going to clear this game, perfectly.


    A smile graced his face as he was his alarm.


    The alarm is some rubble spread in the entrance of a corridor that leads to the arch.


    As he feels a connection with whatever objects he charms, he charmed the rubble with the Leviosa spell.


    If they are disturbed he will get to know with the help of his connection. Of course, he won''t know the second they move. He has to keep a metaphorical eye on their position to know if he wants that.


    He could ''feel'' every object he charms, but he can feel movement only from the Leviosa charmed objects. Movement being a big part of the Leviosa spell helped with this.


    ''Maybe when I am more experienced I can feel other objects'' positions too.''


    Leon practiced every spell thoroughly, unlike the MCs of the fanfic he read who just go to the next spell after successfully casting the spell once. He loves stretching and finding the limits of the charms and boy wasn''t it paying off.


    This type of alarm has a distance limit though. Susan''s charm was dispelled when she closed her eyes and tried to control the feather, imitating Leon.


    But she was able to control the feather, with her eyes closed when Leon was trying to see if he could levitate objects in another room just by knowing their position.


    Sadly, he couldn''t.


    Stashing the gun, Leon started his patrol for stragglers, leaving behind his trustee alarm.


    Detecting movement was the rubble''s only purpose, unlike the other traps that came after it.


    They have more zing to them.


    ......................................


    A/n: The scroll''s illusions are real world for the people in them. Think muggle magical portraits but they don''t know they died and now were just shades, unlike the wizards.